Method and apparatus for vendor-specific device communication

Abstract

Broadly speaking a method and an apparatus is disclosed for enabling vendor-specific communication between devices of a common vendor. More specifically, the present invention provides a method and an apparatus for using vendor-specific cyclic redundancy check (CRC) data to identify a communication as containing vendor-specific data. The method and apparatus of the present invention does not inhibit compatibility between the vendor device and another device operating in accordance with a standard communication protocol. Additionally, the method and apparatus of the present invention allows the devices of the common vendor to implement features and functionality that rely on efficient and protected vendor-specific communication.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates generally to communication between electronic devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for performing vendor-specific communication between electronic devices.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]Modern computing systems generally include a number of target devices in communication with one or more initiator devices. For example, the initiator device may be a host computer and the target device may be a hard drive connected as a peripheral device. Communication (i.e., data transfer) protocols, such as IDE and SCSI, are used to enable communication between initiator devices and target devices. Standard communication protocols have been developed to ensure communication compatibility between initiator devices and target devices. The standard communication protocols provide rigid frameworks and processes for conducting data transfers betwee...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]Broadly speaking a method and an apparatus is disclosed for enabling vendor-specific communication between devices of a common vendor. More specifically, the present invention provides a method and an apparatus for using vendor-specific cyclic redundancy check (CRC) data to identify a communication as containing vendor-specific data. Since only devices of the common vendor are capable of recognizing the vendor-specific CRC data and processing the vendor-specific data contained within the communication, devices of other vendors will interpret the vendor-specific CRC data as being invalid standard CRC data. The vendor device can be configured to recognize and process both standard communications and vendor-specific communications. Thus, the method and apparatus of the present invention does not inhibit compatibility between the vendor device and another device operating in accordance with a standard communication protocol. Additionally, the method and apparatus of the present invention allows the devices of the common vendor to implement features and functionality that rely on efficient and protected vendor-specific communication.

Problems solved by technology

Since only devices of the common vendor are capable of recognizing the vendor-specific CRC data and processing the vendor-specific data contained within the communication, devices of other vendors will interpret the vendor-specific CRC data as being invalid standard CRC data.

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